What is a push to talk communications plan

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

What buyers should know about push to talk plans

It might be hard to believe but cell phones, also known as mobile phones, have been around since 1973. Cell phones were not very popular, unlike today’s smartphones, and at that time they were basically status symbols for rich busy businessmen.
Cell phones and smartphones really took off in popularity for the average consumer in the mid-1990s. Smartphones, or cell phones, went from being a luxury item for the in-crowd, to a necessity most people couldn’t do without. Cellular plans varied in different features they offered consumers such as unlimited minutes, and data plans.

The newest service cellular companies are offering Push-to-Talk Plans, which specifically target the business user. Many people haven’t heard of Push-to-Talk communication plans. What is a push to talk communications plan, and how can phone plan shoppers understand and choose a plan that meets their needs?

In the beginning, cellular communication plan providers competed against each other by offering consumer plans where customers can buy a plan where they had a certain amount of minutes at prices that were easy to keep in the budget. However; the downside of this for most people is that they miscalculated the number of minutes each month and going beyond the limit of the plan’s monthly limit would mean their customers would get an expensive cell phone bill.

The other problems with regular plans were that the monthly minute limits didn’t credit uncontrollable issues like cell tower delays to connect one person or group to another, and long waits on the phone to get nothing but a busy signal and drop calls. The new push-to-talk communication plans changed that for consumers.

Push-to-talk plans are new communication plans available for business owners to purchase where one person can use a cell phone to speak directly to another person or a group of people without concerns most cell phone and smartphone users deal with on a daily basis – like being out of range, signal interference, and annoying dropped calls. The plans themselves allows for a single button and software to be added to a cell phone, thus turning it into a two-way communication device where if a caller were to push the PTT button they would instantly be connected to the other party or group. The advantage of PTT plans is that no minutes would be wasted waiting to get a connection, and there would no longer be any dropped calls.

Two types of PTT plans

The first is just the regular cellular plan that has the regular Push to Talk feature where communication will take place between one person to another or group and that plan operates on the 3G network. This was the first and only PTT plan available and feedback on it was positive and it was economical.

The latest PTT plans currently available are called PTT Plus plans, also known as PTT+ plans.

The difference between the two is that the simple PTT plans use 3G but the new PTT+ plans operate on the 4G LTE network and 2 parties can talk to each other using Wi-Fi also there is more freedom of communication for those who have the 4G plan.

Finally, the most important part is the pricing. Looking at providers such as Verizon, ATT, and Nextel, the average price for regular PTT plans are about an extra $10 per month and the more enhanced PTT plans or PTT+ plans are between an extra $20 to $30 on average.

Push-to-Talk phone plans are extra features cellular provide customers in addition to their cellular phone plans. They are offered by cellular providers and it would be best to find out which companies actually offer it to their customers, and which can tailor those plans to accommodate the needs of a company or team.

The PTT service itself is a great add-on feature to a cell phone plan, turning a regular cellular or smartphone into a two-way communication device that offers one to one or one to a group instant communication without the minute eating hassles of long waits to get a connection, busy signals, and dropped calls.